For a linear game, the structure of a walkthrough is simple: it consists of step-by-step instructions. The Ur-Quan Masters is not linear. Instead, multiple plot lines advance simultaneously (some of them entirely without the player's intervention). This walkthrough is structured to reflect that aspect of the game. If you don't know what you need to do to advance the plot, if you're missing some critical piece of information, you can probably find it here. But this is not a step-by-step guide to beating The Ur-Quan Masters.

Plot spoilers have been kept to a minimum, in hopes that the game will be able to reveal itself to you as the creators intended.

HINT: Save your game on a regular basis. Keeping multiple saves will let you go further back if you make a mistake without realizing it. If you use a lot of saves, be sure to familiarize yourself with the interface for selecting which one to load. It shows the in-game date of the save, the position of your ship and other information to help you choose your load point more easily.

HINT: If you want to depend as little as possible on this walkthrough, keep a notebook (a single sheet of paper is not remotely enough) to record what you learn from the people you talk to. The story can drive itself without needing too much slow planet-by-planet exploration, and it can be more satisfying to make progress without referring to outside sources like this guide.

Upon first starting the game, you will be at the edge of our solar system, called Sol.

You will find Earth (the third planet) surrounded by a red shield. In addition to the Moon, there is a space station orbiting the Earth. When you approach, a drone will fly out and converse with you. Upon reaching the station, you can make contact with Hayes, who will tell you that the station needs radioactive minerals and that you can find them on Mercury.

Go to Mercury, scan it and dispatch a Lander to collect the radioactive (orange) minerals. Mercury is inhospitable, so it is advisable to land near the minerals and return to the ship (use the escape or secondary fire key) as soon as you have acquired the radioactives. If the Lander is destroyed, you can go back to Earth and get another from Hayes.

HINT: Radioactive materials can also be found on the moons of Jupiter, which are less dangerous than Mercury.

HINT:Lander Hints can provide more suggestions on gathering resources using the lander.

HINT: The trip to Mercury is a bit tedious. At the beginning of the game your ship is really slow at first. As you acquire more RU (Resource Units) and better technology from Melnorme, you will be able to make it faster, better at turning, and stronger in combat.

Take the radioactives back the Starbase and give them to Commander Hayes. He will send you to the moon.

Scanning the moon, you will notice that the "Energy" scan has detected something. Dispatch a Lander and investigate.

When you get back to Earth and talk to Hayes, you will be interrupted by an Ilwrath Avenger, which attacks your ship.

HINT:Fighting Hints can provide suggestions on dealing with space combat.

After you have defeated the Avenger, Hayes will arrange to configure the Starbase to maintain and upgrade your ship.

At this point, the linear portion of the game is over. The rest of this walkthrough consists of instructions for intermediate objectives, including acquiring items, forming alliances with other races, and instigating various events.

Some of the aliens you encounter can be convinced to help you. In some cases, this means a formal alliance: they send a delegation to Earth and you can build their race's ships at the Starbase. In other cases, they will give you a few ships but you will not be able to build them yourself.

Most of these alliances are optional, but you may find them useful. Check the final mission section for a list of required alliances.

Once the captain knows the cypher, he can find the Spathi leaders on Epsilon Gruis Ia (241.6 : 368.7). Give them the secret cypher and ask them to join your alliance. They will require that you prove yourself by eliminating the 'Evil Ones' from their historic homeworld, Epsilon Gruis I.

Land, eliminate the Evil Ones, and collect the biological information that they leave.

Return to Epsilon Gruis Ia. The Spathi will thank you and ask you to come back later. As usual in this kind of situation, it does not matter how much game time passes before you return. Start another dialogue with them and they will ally themselves with you.

Any Pkunk you meet will be friendly. They will direct you to their homeworld, Gamma Krueger I (052.2 : 052.5). When you get there, they will offer you the Clear Spindle and you can convince them to give you four Fury ships. You can never build these ships at the Starbase.

HINT: Make sure that you have four empty spaces in your fleet when you visit the Pkunk homeworld. If you don't want the Fury ships, you can scrap them later for RU

(Optional) Visit ZEX of the VUX at his private planet, Alpha Cerenkov I (422.1 : 198.6). (The Melnorme can tell you where to find him.) He offers to give you the remaining female Shofixti if you bring him a certain legendary monster.

Capture the beast at Delta Lyncis I (570.4 : 979.5). This is difficult unless your Lander has been upgraded by the Melnorme.

Take them to the Delta Gorno system (290.8 : 026.9), where you can find Tanaka, a male Shofixti piloting a Shofixti Scout. He will attack you. Flee repeatedly (this consumes a good deal of fuel, so be sure you have enough) until he realizes you're not the enemy. The fastest way to gain his trust is to insult him (the Melnorme hint at this).

Once he trusts you, you can give him the maidens, and two months later, the Shofixti will arrive at Earth and ally themselves with you.

HINT: If you kill Tanaka, his brother Katana will appear in the system. Katana can also be used to repopulate the Shofixti species.

The Shofixti are very useful allies. Once they join your alliance, the crew cost goes down by 2 credits.

HINT: If you lose a thousand or more crew, the cost per crewman will increase from 3 to 5. If the Shofixti ally with you before this point, the cost will be 1 RU per crewman from then on (regardless of how many you lose). If the RU cost has already increased due to crew loss, the Shofixti will permanently set it to 3 RUs.

Take a Shofixti Scout to Yehat space (near Gamma Serpentis I (492.3 : 029.4)) and show it to a Yehat pilot in a hyperspace or in a planetary system. A civil war will begin, and one side will be happy to supply you with four Yehat Terminators whenever you meet them in space. The other side is hostile, and there is no way to tell the difference until you talk, so be prepared to fight.

To recruit the Zoq-Fot-Pik, go to their homeworld at Alpha Tucanae I (400.0 : 543.7). The Zoq-Fot-Pik willingly join your alliance. (You can find out where they are by investigating Rigel after Hayes tells you about a transmission from that direction)

HINT: The journey to to Alpha Tucanae is hazardous. You need to be able to out-run or out-gun the Ur-Quan ships in the vicinity.

The Arilou will not make a formal alliance directly, but they will provide you with some of their Skiff vessels if you complete the process to acquire the Portal Spawner device. The Skiffs are waiting for you when you return to the Starbase.

Go to a Shattered World and collect the Egg Fragments. There are three Shattered Worlds to choose from: Beta Copernicus I (600.8 : 263.1), Gamma Brahe I (635.4 : 272.9), and Gamma Scorpii I (647.9 : 206.2).

Either (a) go to the Mycon Homeworld at Epsilon Scorpii (629.1 : 220.8) and ask about the Egg Fragments, or (b) buy information on the Syreen from a Melnorme trader.

Go to Betelgeuse I (412.5 : 377.0) and make contact with the Syreen at the orbiting station. Ask her about Syra and show her the Egg Fragments.

Take the Syreen Shuttle to Epsilon Camelopardalis 1a (593.7 : 393.7, deep in Ur-Quan space). Dispatch a Lander to the energy signature.

Go to Talana to finalize the plans. Your role is to give the Mycon information that will lure them into her trap.

Go to the Mycon homeworld (Epsilon Scorpii I, 629.1 : 220.8) and persuade Mycon to move to Organon, in accordance with Talana's instructions.

At this point, you may need to wait some time before continuing the process. You can view the Mycon's progress on the Starmap.

Return to Betelgeuse and talk to Talana. She will make a formal alliance with you, and you will be able to build Syreen ships at the Starbase.

HINT: Unlike other alien races, Commander Hayes will not inform you that the Syreen have joined your Alliance. However, their ships will be available for you to build.

HINT: While the Mycon fleet is out of position, you can steal the Sun Device from Beta Brahe I (639.5 : 231.2)

Fix the Ultron and bring it to an Utwig space. Find a captain in space or at their home planet (taking it to Zeta Hyades VIb (850.0 : 937.2) does not work) and show him the repaired Ultron. He will take it, and the Supox and Utwig will both make formal alliances with you immediately.

Take the Sun Device to Procyon (074.2 : 226.8) and orbit the slave-shielded world (planet II). Use the Device.

The Chmmr will emerge, and if you do not already have the Talking Pet and/or the Precursor Bomb, they will instruct you to acquire them. In the meantime, they will ally with you formally and provide you with the Avatar designs.

When you return with the Talking Pet and the Bomb (or, if you already had them, immediately) they will provide you with infinite RU and equip you with the Improved Precursor Bomb. You are now ready to begin the final mission.

Make a formal alliance with the Spathi, and wait several months for them to disappear from the Starmap. Hayes will also inform you of their disappearance. Once they have disappeared, you can pick up the Umgah Caster from Epsilon Gruis Ia.

Go to Alpha Pavonis VII (056.2 : 800.0) and retreive the warp pod from the wreckage of the Ur-Quan Dreadnought. (The Umgah, Thraddash or Melnorme can tell you to look there; the Arilou will directly point it out to you)

For the three days from the 17th through the 19th of each month, a naturally-occurring portal will be open at the coordinates 043.8 : 637.2, not far from Gamma Circini. Go through the portal to Quasispace.

Navigate to the Arilou Homeworld, Falayalaralfali, in the upper right region of Quasispace.

The Arilou will use the warp pod to make a Portal Spawner for your flagship. If you return to HyperSpace without the portal spawner, the naturally-occurring portal remains your only route to QuasiSpace.

The Sun Device is located on Beta Brahe I (639.5 : 231.2), but it is guarded by a large (infinite, in fact) fleet of MyconPodships. To acquire it, follow the steps to form an alliance with the Syreen, and either visit Beta Brahe I while they are away or after they come back. If you wait for them to come back, you still have to fight them, but the fleet deployed at Beta Brahe I is finite, and can be destroyed so that you can pick up the Sun Device.

You can purchase the Rosy Sphere (needed for the Ultron) from the Druuge at the Zeta Persei (946.9 : 280.6) star system. The cost is 100 crew or one MyconDeep Child fragment or the Burvix Caster. If you have not already shown your Egg Fragment to Talana, you should do so before you trade it away to the Druuge.

Tell the Thraddash (Delta Draconis I (253.5 : 835.8)) to attack the Ur-Quan's enemies, then go to Zeta Draconis (277.6 : 867.3) while the fleet is gone.

Take the Umgah Caster to the Ilwrath and command them to attack the Thraddash. The Thraddash will be too busy fighting the Ilwrath to stop you from taking the Helix.

If you manage to destroy 25 Thraddash ships, they will admire and respect you and form a new culture to fit your example. After doing this, you may travel to Zeta Draconis and retrieve the artifact unharmed.

Make contact with the Supox (near Beta Librae I (741.4 : 912.4)). The Supox will give you the Broken Ultron. In addition, you will need the Clear Spindle, the Aqua Helix and the Rosy Sphere. These four items can be acquired in any order.

Combine the Broken Ultron with the other three items by "using" them in your device list after acquiring the Broken Ultron.

This creature was discovered by the Arilou and restored by the Umgah, who also accidentally unlocked the mental powers that are totally suppressed in most Talking Pets.

First, go to the Arilou homeworld in QuasiSpace, and ask them about the talking pet.

Bring the Taalo Shield to Beta Orionis (197.8 : 596.8). The Talking Pet will try to have you kill yourself, but the Taalo Shield will stop him. He then summons several Umgah to attack you. Fight off the Umgah Drones.

Once the Drones are defeated, you can take the Talking Pet. The grateful Umgah will hail you as a hero, give you 500 biological data units as a reward... then immediately attack you, since heroes are boring. To make the attack interesting, they will graciously give you several Umgah Drones-take them and run!

This device is an alternative to the Umgah Caster. The Melnorme can tell you about the Burvixese and where to find their homeworld.

Go to Arcturus (964.5 : 579.1). The Caster is on a moon orbiting the first planet.

HINT: Once you acquire the Umgah Caster, a better use for this Caster surfaces: Load up the Flagship with empty High-Efficiency Fuel Tanks and go to Zeta Persei. The Druuge will fill your fuel tanks to the brim in exchange for the Burvix Caster. This fuel can be used or returned to the Starbase for a huge amount of RUs.

HINT: The Burvix Caster can also be exchanged for the Rosy Sphere, one of the replacement parts for the Ultron. This is one of several ways to acquire the device.

HINT: You cannot perform either trade if you have already completed the mission to acquire the Precursor Bomb as the Druuge will be hostile to you from that point on.

The Slylandro Probes belong to a race of creatures that live in a gas giant, Beta Corvi IV ( 033.3 : 981.2 ). You can learn about them from the Melnorme, who sell the location of their homeworld as "information about current events." In addition, the Thraddash and Zoq-Fot-Pik can both tell you what general direction the probes are coming from.

You can go directly to the Slylandro homeworld at Beta Corvi IV at 033.3 : 981.2 and ask about the probes as much as you like, but you will not be offered the option of informing them that the probes are attacking ships. For this you will have to encounter a probe, converse with it, inevitably fight it and then return to the Slylandro homeworld, at which time all dialogue options will be available.

If you convince them that the probes are destroying ships, The Slylandro will give you a code to destroy any probe you meet. If you destroy the probes with the code you still get the RU.

The next time you return to Beta Corvi IV (even if it is immediately after you leave with the code), the Slylandro will inform you that they have succeeded in reprogramming a probe to seek out other probes and order them to self-destruct. From this point on, the number of probes will go down until you will no longer encounter them in the game.

To initiate the final mission, you will need the Sun Device, Precursor Bomb and Talking Pet in your cargo hold. Take these to Procyon II and use the Sun Device while in orbit. When you regain control of the Flagship, you will appear back at the Starbase around Earth.

Equip your ship and fly to the location of the Sa-Matra at Delta Crateris (620.0 : 593.5). Use your Talking Pet to confuse the large Ur-Quan fleet guarding the Sa-Matra. Following this, only six Ur-Quan ships will stand between you and the Sa-Matra — three Ur-Quan Kzer-ZaDreadnoughts and three Ur-Quan Kohr-AhMarauders. After defeating them, you may be supplied with as many PkunkFuries and YehatTerminators as you can carry (up to four of each). The appearance of these reinforcements is dependent upon you starting the Yehat civil war.

Finally, you will have to perform two daunting tasks. First, eliminate the eight shield generators that power a force field protecting the only entrance to the Sa-Matra, which sits guarded inside a cocoon of asteroids. While trying to eliminate these shield generators, you will be chased and harried by flaming, homing fireballs/comets of some kind, and small green blobs that, rather than shoot at you, simply bump into you causing a small amount of damage but a transferring a lot of momentum. The Pkunk Fury is well capable of flying around and eluding these slower adversaries, and its main weapon is ideal for strafing runs on the shield generators. You may want to fly around first so all the fireballs and green blobs come out of the Sa-Matra, so you don't have to worry about them coming out right next to you. Note that you can destroy the fireballs and green blobs with your weapons. However, if any of the shield generators are still intact, the Sa-Matra will automatically send out new ones to replace those you've destroyed.

Your second task will be to rush your bomb-laden Flagship into the asteroid shell for the final blow against the Ur-Quan. One approach is to rely on luck, that your Flagship gets a good initial placement in the battle when it's sent in, and filling the Flagship with as many full crew pods to survive the onslaught of the green blobs and fireballs. A second approach is to first use any remaining ships in your fleet to destroy any fireballs and green blobs left over from the first task. Since all the shield generators have been destroyed by this point, these will not be replaced when they are destroyed. With all the fireballs and green blobs destroyed, it is very easy to maneuver your Flagship into position to destroy the Sa-Matra. When you enter the asteroid shell with your Flagship, you will automatically activate the bomb and get away with the escape pod. Now enjoy the ending movie. :-)

Melnorme Traders are present at every super-giant star system in the game -- if you don't see them when you reach the system, check the planets or wait for them to come out into view. Also, if your ship runs out of fuel and is dead in the water, a Trader will appear and offer to help. Furthermore, if you use either the Umgah or Burvix Caster while in hyperspace, a Trader vessel will come looking for you.